Grandma/Grandpa Nicknames

[soocool]

This came up in another thread where I stated that being a grandma would make me feel old and so I would probably love to be called anything but, grandma. Some of the nicknames that came up were Gigi, BeeBee, and Cookie. I myself am thinking :"Mimi" for me.

For any grandparents out there, what do you like to be called?

To the grandkids, what do you call your grandparents?

I always called my grandparents, grandma/grandpa and their first name. My DD does the same with her grandparents.

 

[fieryred33143]

This is a sore subject with me lol.

My mom didn''t want to be called grandma (or abuela since she speaks Spanish). But as soon as DD came around, she gave herself the name abuelita which has turned into belita (bell-ee-ta).

Now the inlaws are a different subject.

MIL wants to be called nani. Fine, whatever.

But she wants DD to call FIL "tata" which is way too close, IMO, to "dada." It''s not that big of a deal but it''s annoying because now that she''s doing her d''s (dadadadadddaaa all day long), MIL keep saying that she''s calling for FIL. Once DD can say "dada" with meaning, she''s going to be confused on who is "dada" KWIM?

 

[meresal]

The older niece and nephew call my mom and dad, Grandma and Granddad.

The youngest calls her Marmie

. My mom LOVES Little Women. (Not spelled the same, but you get the idea.)

Fiery: I can see where you are coming from. That is really close IMO, and especially confusing when she is just starting to sound things out. I know if my MIL kept making comments like that, it would drive me insane.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

My mom and step dad will be Nana and Gramps, my dad and step mom will be Robpa (Rob+Grandpa) and Grammy and DH''s parents will be Grandma and Grandpa Bob

 

[Lilac]

My grandmother didn''t want to be called "Bubby" because she said she thinks of a little 90 year old woman when she hears the word. So we made a change and I''ve called her Bobbie all my life (almost like the name Bobby). My grandfather is Zaidy.

My other grandparents are Pa and Nanny. All my older cousins called them that so I just followed their example.

 

[MonkeyPie]

My grandparents were Memo and Tata on my mom''s side, and Mama (pronounced momo) and Popo on my dad''s. My brother, being the first grandbaby, came up with them and now the whole family calls them that lol.

I have no idea what my parents or IL''s want to be called, though. I figure the baby will come up with something

 

[Bella_mezzo]

We''re TTC right now so I''m not sure what my parents want to be called (it will be the first grandchild on that side).

DH''s parents will be MaMaw and PaPaw (not sure how to spell it

) it''s the typical Louisiana names for grandparents and what all their other grand kids call them.

My grand parents are: Nana and Grandpaul on my mom''s side and Grammy and Grandad on my Dad''s side.

When I''m a grandma I defintely want to be called Nana, but my mom doesn''t seem too keen on it. Who knows what she''ll want to be called!

When I nannied, the kids called their one set of grandparents Yaya and Papa (they weren''t greek, but the mom had lived in greece for a while)...

 

[Ara Ann]

My sister''s two grandsons call her and their grandpa, "Grammie and Papa". My dad is "Papa" to the grandkids...my mom is just Grandma.

 

[MustangGal]

This has come up in the last year for us too. My mom seems to be leaning toward grammy and granpy (but my step dad says it''s up to the baby to decide what to call them). The ILs don''t seem to have a preference, and my 3 YO nephew just calls both sets grandma and grandpa. We didn''t call my grandparents anything special, but the great grandmothers were Grandma Great and Grandma Gammy (my oldest brother started those, and all the cousins followed him).

 

[jcrow]

bella_mezzo - i''m sure there are different spellings. my louisiana grandparents are maw maw and paw paw.

 

[Girlrocks]

My parents are Pop-Pop and Gramy and DH's dad is Pop-Pop also.

ETA-when their great grandmother was still alive, she was "GG" (Great Grandma)

Because my MIL passed away before we had kids, the 2 Pop-Pop's really don't get confused because when we are talking about getting together with them to the kids, one is always "pop-pop and gramy" and the other is just "pop-pop". My FIL has a long term girlfriend but my DH insists that our kids call her by her first name; they aren't married and it would hurt DH too much to hear them call her grandma. Plus she never had kids and isn't very "maternal" towards them.

My kids have older cousin's on both sides so they got the decide what the grandparents were called. We just went with what they were doing to avoid confusion.

My next door neighbors are in their 40's and already grandparents, so for obvious reason's didn't want to be called Grandma and Grandpa. They are "Lolli" and "Pop" to their granddaughter, so when coming for a visit, they tell her that she is going to see "LolliPop". To each his own....

 

[Bella_mezzo]

jcrow I have no idea, I took a shot in the dark. The emphasis is on the second syllable in each...

 

[Clio]

My mother''s parents were Grandmama and Grandfather. My father''s parents (still living) are Granny and Grandpa to me and my sister, though my younger cousins call my grandfather Pop.

My kids call my parents Grandmama and Grandpa. They call my father''s parents Granny and Grandpa Phil. They call my husbands parents Ong Noi and Ba Noi, which are Vietnamese grandparent names.

I have cousins who called their grandmother (my great aunt) Hotcakes, and another set who called their grandmother (another great aunt) Buzzy.

 

[qtiekiki]

DD is going to call my mom "por por" and dad "gong gong", and MIL "nei nei" and FIL "ye ye". Basically just grandma and grandpa in Cantonese, except MIL is in a different Chinese dialect. There are different characters for maternal and paternal grandparents, and that''s why they all have different names. So far, DD can only call my mom.

 

[TravelingGal]

Amelia will call TGuy''s parent''s Nana and Grandpa. She calls my mom "Moh-nee" which is short for "Hal-mo-nee" which means grandmother in Korean.

 

[junebug17]

We called my father's parents babi and didi...not even sure what this translates into in czechoslovakian (sp?), but I think "babi" might mean something like old lady? We called my mother's parents grandma and grandpa. When my kids were little, they called my MIL Grandma Tinker, and my mom Grandma Taffy (their dogs' names lol). Now that MIL has passed away, my kids just call my mom grandma. When the time comes for me, I won't mind being called grandma. (which is weird, because I am upset about getting older, but being called grandma won't bother me at all).

 

[fleur-de-lis]

The histrionics in both my family and my friends'' families have required more and more absurdly quasi-unique "names"; the non-dramatics are just fine with Grandma or Grandpa-First-Name. We young''uns have laughed about it. I don''t think many of the folks who do this realize what they''re inadvertently revealing about themselves.

It seems as if this is going to *really* be a problem when the Boomer Generation (i.e., the former "me generation") passes through this milestone. For instance:

Date: 1/13/2010 12:34:43 PM
Author: Girlrocks

My next door neighbors are in their 40''s and already grandparents, so for obvious reason''s didn''t want to be called Grandma and Grandpa. They are ''Lolli'' and ''Pop'' to their granddaughter, so when coming for a visit, they tell her that she is going to see ''LolliPop''. To each his own....

 

[dcgator]

Well I called my maternal grandmother granni and my mom''s dad was Papa first name. I called my paternal grandfather Papa. Nothing too creative there.

All I can say is that our children our going to have to be really creative. I have my mom and step dad, my father and his wife, my DH''s mother and step-dad and his father and wife. Our poor childen are going to be so confused...

 

[somethingshiny]

I called my grandparents Grandma or Grandpa first name, except one that we called Grandma last name. Same for DH. JT was the oldest grandchild for both sides, so he kinda picked the names and the other kids followed suit. DH''s parents are Nana and Papa (Nana chose this for herself) My mom and dad were just going to be Grandma and Grandpa but JT decided to go with Grammie and Pa.

 

[Puppmom]

DD calls my parents Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop and DHs parents Bubby and "The Boss".

 

[soocool]

Date: 1/13/2010 2:14:34 PM
Author: puppmom
DD calls my parents Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop and DHs parents Bubby and ''The Boss''.

I''m curious. Which one is The Boss? (At first I thought your DH''s father was Bruce Springsteen! lol)

 

[sunnyd]

I have a grandma and grandpa and a mama and papa.

My aunt is called nan by her step-grandkids. FIL wants to be called your highness.

DH''s g-ma has always been Joy (her first name), because she was "too young to be a grandma" and her husband was granddad.

I have no idea what our kids will call our parents.

 

[curlygirl]

My parents really didn't care what they were called, as long as the kids pay attention to them! Lily came up with their nicknames on her own so now they are known as "me-mom" and "baba". My MIL is called "nonni" by her other grandchildren so that's what my kids call her--kind of a diminutive version of the Italian "nonna". My FIL's name is called "grandpa" by the other grandchildren but since his name is Bobby, my kids call him "boppy". Cute stuff. I like letting the kids decide what they want to call them.

 

[soocool]

I was doing a little research and apparently there is a Granparents magazine (who knew?!) and a list of grandparent nicknames and stories that go along with some of them.
What don''t they have on the internet these days?lol

http://www.grandparentsmagazine.net/Articles/grandparentnamesmembers.htm

 

[upgrade]

My only advice is choose carefully because whatever the first grandchild calls you will be your name until the end of time!

My youngest calls his grandmas both "Amma" because he can''t say grandma yet. They think it''s adorable! My kids'' grandmothers are all ''Grandma'' but their grandfathers are ''Poppa,'' ''Granddad'' and ''Papou'' (divorced parents so there are 3 grandfathers)

My grandparents were Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma and Granddad. My dh called his Mama (pronouced more like the french ''Maman'') and Papa (same pronounciation). They aren''t french but it was what his older cousin started calling them when she was a baby and it stuck. His ''Mama'' is still alive and when my youngest says her name, it sounds exactly like he says mine, but it doesn''t bother me. She always thinks he''s saying her name rather than mine, but she''s old and it makes her happy so I don''t mind a bit.

 

[Mara]

mine was just Grandma.

Greg''s was Dida and Bobbie since he is Ukranian. and Gpa and Gma on the other side.

My Mom wants to be called GrandBee(GrandB) since her name starts with a B. She says she is too young to be a Grandma.

 

[Puppmom]

Date: 1/13/2010 2:27:58 PM
Author: soocool

Date: 1/13/2010 2:14:34 PM
Author: puppmom
DD calls my parents Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop and DHs parents Bubby and ''The Boss''.

I''m curious. Which one is The Boss? (At first I thought your DH''s father was Bruce Springsteen! lol)

"The Boss" is my FIL. He''s a pretty bossy (in a pleasant and funny way) guy so we all referred to him as Mr. Boss as a joke and it stuck. DD just picked up on it and has been calling him that since she was a toddler.

 

[ChinaCat]

There was a hilarious article in the NYT last January (2009) about this, how boomer grandparents were coming up with all of these ridiculous names to avoid being "grandma" and "grandpa".

One in particular I remember was "Glamma". Seriously.

My friend''s parents want to be Big Mama and G-Bob. And they are the most conservative, straight-laced couple I know.

That being said, it''s weird for me to refer to my mom as "Grandma" only b/c MY grandma is still around. Right now I am "trying out" different names- usually call them Grams and Gramps. But I am going to let O decide.

MIL is "Nonna" b/c that''s what her other grandkids call her.

My grandmother, so O''s great-grandma, is called "Double G". I love that.

My fave story is a friend''s kids that calls his grandma "Gum" b/c that''s all he could say. So he calls his grandpa "Dad-Gum".

So cute.

 

[lyra]

I have 2 grown girls, so I get to choose what the grandkids will call us. I prefer Grandma and Grandpa as being the highest priority. LOL. I had a grandma/grandpa and a baba/papa. My mom chose to be called Nana by my kids. DH''s parents were Grandma/Grandpa because there was a pair of them I guess.

 

[yssie]

We have this easy


For our kids - FI's parents will be grandma and grandpa, my parents will be patti and thatha. FI's grandparents will be savta and saba, probably, my grandmothers will be name1-patti and name2-patti (no grandfathers).